17. and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now prepared.’
18. “But they all with one mind began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’
19. “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to prove them. I ask you to excuse me.’
20. “Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
21. “The servant came and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’
22. “The servant said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and yet there is room.’
23. “Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
24. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
25. Large crowds went with Him. And He turned and said to them,
26. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
27. And whoever does not bear his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
28. “For who among you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost to see whether he has resources to complete it?
29. Otherwise, perhaps, after he has laid the foundation and is not able to complete it, all who see it will begin to mock him,
30. saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to complete it.’
31. “Or what king, going to wage war against another king, does not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?